Mayor of Fingal welcomes Ministerial order to allow councillors to hold meetings and vote remotely

The Mayor of Fingal Cllr David Healy has welcomed the Ministerial order which will allow councillors to hold meetings and vote remotely.

The order signed by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD ensures that decisions made at online meetings shall be considered the same as decisions made by Elected Members in a physical location.

During the Covid-19 period, Fingal County Council has been holding a mixture of governance and oversight virtual meetings using the Microsoft Teams platform and physical meetings.

Mayor of Fingal Cllr David Healy said: “I very much welcome this decision by the Minister as it will enable councillors to carry out our important statutory duties on behalf of the citizens of Fingal in a remote setting. Allowing councillors to have the same decision-making powers in a virtual setting is vital if we are to continue to get through our statutory business during this Covid-19 period.”

Fingal was the first local authority in Ireland to introduce webcasting in 2005 and streams all its full County Council and Area Committee meetings and they can be viewed at https://fingalcoco.public-i.tv/core/portal/home.

The Mayor added: “With meetings taking place in an online setting, webcasting has never been more important in order to allow our citizens access to the decision-making process which affects their everyday lives.”